“Across Logistics” Innovation News Release: August 2018

“Across Logistics” Innovation News Release: August 2018

Welcome to the August 2018 issue of “Across Logistics” Innovation News Release, where we are presenting you the latest innovative technologies and important news in logistics that happened over the past month.

Uber Closes Down Its Self-Driving Trucks Division

Uber recently announced that the Uber Advanced Technologies Group (ATG) will stop the development of self-driving trucks and will direct the focus of the entire team towards self-driving cars.

According to the email that was sent to Uber ATG employees, Eric Meyhofer, head of Uber ATG, wrote: “Rather than having two groups working side by side, focused on different vehicle platforms, I want us instead collaborating as one team. I know we’re all super proud of what the Trucks team has accomplished, and we continue to see the incredible promise of self-driving technology applied to moving freight across the country. But we believe delivering on self-driving for passenger applications first, and then bringing it to freight applications down the line, is the best path forward.”

Uber ATG will continue the in-house development of LiDAR – a light detection and ranging radar that measures distance using laser light to generate highly accurate 3D maps of the car surroundings. Uber Freight, a marketplace for truck drivers and shipping companies which launched in 2017, will not be affected by the decision to shutter Uber’s self-driving trucks unit.

The Marlink Group, the world’s leading provider of end-to-end managed connectivity and IT solutions, revealed that it has signed partnership agreements with two startups – We4Sea and Transmetrics. These partnerships are strategically important for the Marlink Group because they allow to support global maritime shipping companies with the innovative solutions developed by the startups. While We4Sea provides innovative fuel efficiency solutions to the Marlink’s network of clients, Transmetrics helps them predict shipping volumes, optimize empty container moves and achieve savings while making transport more efficient and environmentally friendly. Marlink aims to support new partners as part of its Smart Connectivity strategy, which empowers its customers’ digitalization and business efficiency through new applications and business models.

“Big data will play a significant part in enabling ships to reduce sulphur emissions and, together with Marlink, we will contribute to addressing one of the biggest challenges that the shipping industry faces. Our solution combined with Marlink’s connectivity and industry leadership will contribute to reducing fuel costs, helping ship owners to operate more cost-effectively,” added Dan Veen, We4Sea CEO and Co-Founder.

Rolls-Royce Launches a Lithium-Ion-Based Energy Storage System for Ships

Picture Credit: Port Technology

This month, Rolls-Royce has announced the launch of a lithium-ion-based energy storage system called “SAVe Energy”. According to the company, this system is designed to increase efficiency for small ships and tug vessels. For the shipowners, the benefit is clear – they will receive a clean, safe and cost-efficient complete energy storage system. The modular design of the system enables it to scale according to energy and power requirements and can be combined with an LNG1Liquefied natural gas or diesel-powered engine as well as most types of propulsion units.

“The development work has been partly funded by the Norwegian Research Council of Norway’s ENERGIX program. The three-ship owning companies Color Line, Norled and the Norwegian Coastal Administration Shipping Company have been partners in the development, ensuring that the energy storage system covers a wide variety of marine applications,” – the company states in the press release.

The fully self-serviced warehouse has the ability to operate 24/7 and reduce the need for physically demanding human labor. The benefits of the smart warehousing systems include maximization of space utilization and per-square-feet yields, reduction in human errors for activities like storing and delivering of parcels, and, ultimately, new revenue streams in warehousing services. Before opening to the public, industry trials will be conducted in the RobEx Centre in September to collect operational data.

Business Insider Intelligence Publishes a Report on “Transportation & Logistics Startups to Watch”

BI Intelligence, a research unit of Business Insider, published a report in August covering “Transportation & Logistics Startups to Watch”. It gives a high-level overview of the funding trends for startups in Transport and Logistics industry, as well as a list of 25 key startups in different fields such as AI for Supply Chain Management, Digital Freight, Warehouse Robotics, Self-Driving Car Software and Delivery Robotics.

The report highlights such companies as Convoy, Locus Robotics, Starship, Nuro, Transmetrics, ClearMetal and other notable startups. According to the BI Intelligence, startups in this report were selected based on the quality and number of their customers, the products or services they offer, the leadership teams they’ve assembled, the amount of funding they’ve received and a number of notable investors.

“The transportation and logistics sectors are on the brink of a massive transformation. After largely operating the same way for decades, digital leaps in areas like AI and autonomous technology are poised to transform these industries by cutting costs, optimizing delivery routes, and automating mundane tasks. Startups are the lynchpin of this transformation,” – the report states.

Invitation to Participate in 3PL Supply Chain Summit: Europe

Picture Credit: 3PL Summit

While it is important to stay updated on the latest trends of Innovation in Logistics and Supply Chain, at Transmetrics we believe that face-to-face discussions and meetings with the industry’s most forward-looking innovators can bring a lot of food for thought and many potential benefits for your logistics operations. This is why we would like to invite you to participate in the next edition of 3PL Supply Chain Summit: Europe, which will take place on 29-31st October 2018 in Düsseldorf, Germany.

A diverse set of leaders and executives from Adidas, Henkel, HP, JD.com, Nike, Sony and UPS will take part in one of the industry’s biggest gatherings, delivering exclusive keynotes and speeches on three key discussion tracks: eCommerce, logistics and supply chain.

The wave of data-driven practices has injected new life into the supply chain, with retailers, manufacturers and logistics companies all finding themselves transformed by the disruptive potential of contemporary digital technologies. Experts across these verticals will gather in Düsseldorf to address topics including digitalization of the supply chain, innovation in logistics, omnichannel distribution, eCommerce and how to best tackle the capacity crisis.

Transmetrics will be at 3PL Supply Chain Summit: Europe 2018 and we hope to meet you there in person!

If you would like to learn more about the event and how you can attend it, just follow the link below: